Teens create videos to communicate messages of victory over HIV

Teens and young adults were inspired to communicate messages of healthy and safe sexual behavior through a video initiative of the Baylor College of Medicine Teen Health Clinic.

The video project, called Videos for Victory Over HIV, was funded through a grant to the Baylor Teen Health Clinic from AIDS.gov.

Short videos conveying messages about practicing safe sex and getting tested for HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases were submitted for the project and reviewed by a panel of judges.

 Winning videos

The winning video was developed by Brianna Morrison, a student at the University of Houston’s Valenti School of Communication. The stark video shows teens and young adults speaking directly to the camera interspersed with statistics about HIV/AIDS.

Some of the important messages in the video include, “Take control of your life, and always use protection,” and “By protecting yourself, you protect others.” View Brianna Morrison’s video:

Not all of the people in the video were patients of the Teen Health Clinic but all of the messages were actual comments from patients at the clinic left through a text messaging campaign.

“Brianna Morrison took advantage of teen’s adeptness with video and social media to use a variety of teen voices suggesting the many faces and demographics that are Houston’s teenagers,” commented judge Lauri Nelson, coordinator for the Center for Reproductive Medicine at BCM. “Speaking simply, knowledgeably, peer to peer, their voices say just how simple it is to learn one’s status and how important it is for everyone to know what they can do to stop the spread of sexually-transmitted diseases.”

The second-place winner was Mike Pyndus, who won $400. View his video.

The third-place video, which earned $250, was from Lovelyn Roberts. View the video.

Fourth place and $150 went to Christian Merenu. View the video.

“We liked the idea of soliciting videos to convey the important messages of the Teen Health Clinic, and the videos we received achieved our goal of promoting the importance of knowing your HIV status and practicing safe sex,” said Dr. Peggy Smith, director of the Baylor College of Medicine Teen Health Clinic.

The Baylor Teen Health Clinic was one of nine national awardees of the AIDS.gov Microfund Program. The grant of up to $9,000 was designed the clinic’s efforts to use new media to expand and augment its HIV/AIDS programs. Dr. Ruth Buzi is the PI of the grant.  She can be contacted for more information at rbuzi@bcm.edu.

-By Dana Benson